Tooth brush rack



Nov. 29,l 1955 E. M. voGLER 2,725,147

TOOTH BRUSH RACK Filed May l5, 1953 INVENTOR. E///'S M. Voy/6r' United States Patent This invention relates to tooth brush racks and more particularly to a wall mounted rack for releasably supl porting several tooth brushes in spaced apart relationship to each other.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an improved tooth brush rack which can be easily mounted on a supporting structure, such as a bathroom wall, and includes spaced apart spring clips for releasably supporting tooth brushes in spaced apart relationship to each other; which includes an elongated, hollow housing having chambers or compartments therein in which the end portions of tooth brush handles are received and in which the brush retaining spring clips are disposed; which permits the tooth brush handle to be easily inserted into and withdrawn from the rack; and which is simple and durable in construction, economical to manufacture, and neat and attractive in appearance.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a perspective View of a tooth brush rack illustrative of the invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the rack shown in Figure l with a portion broken away and shown in cross section to better illustrate the construction thereof and a tooth brush shown operatively supported by the rack;

Figure 3 is an end elevational view of the tooth brush rack with the tooth brush supported therefrom; and

Figure 4 is a transverse cross sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

With continued reference to the drawing, the illustrated rack comprises an elongated hollow housing 10 of polygonal cross sectional shape and thin walled'construction which may be formed up of a suitable sheet material or cast or molded, as may be desired. The housing has a at back wall 11 of elongated, rectangular shape, extending the entire width and length of the housing and adapted to be disposed against the surface of a supporting structure such as the building wall 12, and has a front wall 13 of a width less than the width of the back wall 1'1 disposed in spaced and substantially parallel relationship to the back wall and intermediate the width of the latter. A top wall 14 inclines outwardly and downwardly from the upper edge of the back wall to the upper edge of the front Wall and a bottom wall 15 extends perpendicularly outwardly from the bottom edge of the back wall for a portion of `the thickness of the housing and is then inclined upwardly and forwardly to the bottom edge of the front wall 13.

Receptacles or chambers, as indicated at 16, of rectangular shape are disposed in the housing in spaced apart relationshiplongitudinally of the housing with the spaces between the receptacles substantially equal in width to the width of the receptacles.

Each receptacle has a back wall 17 disposed in spaced and substantially parallel relationship to the back wall 11 of the housing, a front wall 18 disposed in spaced and substantially parallel relationship to the front wall 13 of 2,725,147 Patented Nov. 29, 1955 the housing, a top.v wall 1,9 disposed in spaced and substantially parallel relationship to the top wall 14 of the housing and side. walls 20 and 21 extending betweenjthe side edges of the back and front walls 17 and 18 substantially perpendicular thereto and at the respectively opposite sides of the receptacle. Each receptacle has itsy bottom end open, as indicated at 23, in the bottom wall 15 of the housing and the back, front and side walls of each receptacle are firmly secured atv their bottom edges to the bottom wall15 ofthe housing surrounding the corresponding opening 23 in the housing bottom wall.

Each receptacle is of a size to receive therein the end portion ofthe handle of a commercial tooth brush remote from the brush and vto receive the end portions of the handles of substantially all forms of commercially available tooth brushes.

Spring clips, as generally indicated at 25, are disposed one in each of the receptacles 16 and each of the spring clips v25 comprisesa flat or leaf spring bent to hook shape and having a straight portion 26 disposed against the inner side of the back wallv 17 of the corresponding receptacle 16 and secured to the receptacle back wall near the bottom edge of the back wall and near the distal end of the straight portion 26 of the spring by a rivet 27, and a recurved front portion 28 joined at one end to the corresponding end of the back portion 26 by an arcuately curved portion 29 of the spring.

Each of the spring hooks 25 has its open end facing the open bottom end of the corresponding receptacles so that the end portion of the handle 30 of a tooth brush, generl ally indicated at 31, can be inserted through the open bottom end of a receptacle 16 and into the spring clip, as illustrated in Figure 4, in a manner such that the spring clip will grasp the tooth brush handle and support the tooth brush from the rack.

The housing 10 is also provided with end Walls 32 and 33 and the front and back walls of the housing are provided with mutually registering apertures near the end walls and medially of the width of the back wall of the housing which apertures receive fasteners, such as the screws 34 and 35, by means of which the housing is secured to the supporting wall. The housing is preferably secured in a position such that the bottom edge of the back wall 11 of the housing is substantially horizontally disposed and the tooth brushes mounted in the housing depend from the bottom of the housing in spaced apart relationship to each other with the bristles of the brushes directed away from the associated wall. This arrangement supports the tooth brushes in spaced apart relationship to each other where they are fully exposed to the drying eifect of the surrounding air and maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. The brushes can be easily inserted into and removed from the brush handle receiving receptacles in the rack and the rack itself is of simple and economical construction and easy to mount in position upon a supporting wall.

The invention may be embodied in other specic forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are, therefore, intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. A tooth brush rack for mounting on a vertical wall surface comprising a hollow housing adapted to be xedly attached to and to project outwardly from said surface, said housing being closed at the ends, back, top, and front thereof and having a bottom wall formed with a horizontally disposed back edge portion and with a front edge portion inclined upwardly from said back edge portion, said wall having spaced openings each of which extends transversely of the bottom wall within both the horizontal and inclined portions thereof for viewing of the several openings from a point spaced horizontally of and in front of the rack, receptacles within therack having open-bottomed ends, said openings being common to both the bottom wall of the housing and the bottom ends of the receptacle; and spring clips mounted in the receptacles to engage the ends of tooth brushes inserted through said openings, each of said receptacles being formed separately from the remaining receptacles and including side walls spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the width of the opening associated therewith, and to the distance between adjacent side walls of adjacent receptacles.

2. A tooth brush rack for mounting on a vertical Wall surface comprising a hollow housing adapted to be Xedly attached to and to project outwardly from said surface,

said'housing being closed at the ends, back, top, and front thereof and having a bottom wall formed with a horizontally disposed back edge portion and with a front edge portion inclined upwardly from said back edge portion,

said wall having spaced openings'each of which extends l transversely of the bottom wall within the horizontal and inclined portions thereof for viewing of the several openings from a point spaced horizontally of and in front of the rack, receptacles within the rack having open-bottomed ends, said openings being common to both the bottom wall of the housing and the bottom ends of the receptacles; and spring clips mounted in the receptacles to engage the ends of tooth brushes inserted through said openings, each of said receptacles being formed separately from the remaining receptacles and including side walls spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the width of the opening associated therewith, and to the distance between adjacent side walls of adjacent receptacles, each receptacle including a back wall, top wall, and front wall, spaced inwardly from the back, top, and front walls, respectively, of the housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 147,123 Hanni July 15, 1947 1,453,816 Welpley May l, 1923 1,460,995 Welpley July 3, 1923 1,823,153 Levy Sept. 15, 1931 2,422,051 Swanson June l0, 1947 

